Two studies of the unintelligible speech of developmentally delayed children found that more intelligible child speech was found in routine than in nonroutine situations and that extracted utterances were more intelligible under context-information-present conditions. (35 references) (Author/CB)

We studied possible relations between seizures and problem behavior in 3 adults with developmental disabilities. Each person was observed for between 56 and 92 days to record occurrences of seizures and problem behavior. Results of our descriptive analysis indicated an association between seizures and problem behavior for each participant. For…

This study tested the hypothesis that pretreatment level of play would predict the rate of increase in prelinguistic, intentional requesting during prelinguistic communication intervention of 8 children (ages 21 to 30 months) with developmental disabilities. A positive relation was found between amount of transitional or symbolic play at baseline…

This study, with 19 young children (36-76 months old) with developmental delays, in the first stage of language learning, found that the children used more frequent language and more diverse vocabulary in routine than in nonroutine situations. The protocol for parent identification of routines is appended. (DB)

This study investigated whether an empirically derived interaction style improves the usefulness of language sampling and transcription in 17 young children with developmental disabilities. The use of wh-questions was effective in producing proportionally more transcribable utterances and a larger sample of productive vocabulary. There were no…

The empirical support for three theoretical approaches to infant intervention is reviewed, including direct intervention via nonsocial means, direct intervention via social means, and indirect infant intervention via social support to the family. For each approach, underlying theoretical assumptions are identified, and for each assumption,…

This study examined whether maternal responsivity would predict the extent to which prelinguistic milieu teaching (PMT) facilitated generalized intentional communication better than a contrast small-group treatment with 58 children (ages 17 to 36 months) with developmental disabilities. If mothers were relatively responsive before treatment, PMT…

Fifty-eight prelinguistic children with developmental disabilities and their mothers participated in an experimental test of whether intentional communication elicits maternal responses purported to facilitate language development. Results indicated that treatment effects on maternal responses varied by pre-treatment maternal education level and…

Thirty-five children diagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorders at age 2 were re-evaluated 2 years later for factors related to spoken language development including child variables and environmental variables. After controlling for age 2 language skills, the only significant predictors of age 4 language skills were motor imitation…

Four toddlers with mental retardation were studied in the context of a multiple baseline across subjects design. Results supported the use of a modified version of milieu teaching to increase intentional requesting by these children. Increased intentional requesting was generalized to interactions with mothers. (Author/DB)

In this study, 23 young children with developmental delays interacted with an adult, who conducted 2 play sessions using 2 interactive styles differing in the adult's use of topic-continuing wh-questions. Use of the questions supported child conversational continuations at all language levels. (DB)

This study tested the predictive validity of the Communication Composite of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales with 58 children (ages 17 to 34 months) functioning at the prelinguistic stage of language development. Evaluation of expressive vocabulary 1 year later found that the Communication Composite and all tested clusters were…

This sequential analysis tested the relative extent to which several adult utterance types elicited conversational replies from eight developmentally delayed children (mean age 53 months). Among findings were that child replies of any length were elicited by adult topic continuations more than by any other adult utterance type. (Author/DB)

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a 6-month course of responsivity education/prelinguistic milieu teaching (RE/PMT) for children with developmental delay and RE/PMT's effects on parenting stress in a randomized clinical trial. Method: Fifty-one children, age 24-33 months, with no more than 10 expressive words or signs, were randomly assigned to…

Reviews past and present research on early communication and language intervention at the Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, presenting three premises that inform most of the Kennedy Center's research on the issue, summarizing seven lines of contemporary research by Kennedy Center investigators that influence the development of…